The present invention relates to a recording apparatus for performing hologram recording operation, which has compatibility with respect to bit-by-bit recording operation corresponding to the conventional optical disk recording system, and also, relates to an information processing appliance equipped with the hologram recording apparatus.
Conventionally, this sort of hologram recording apparatuses try to realize compatibility with respect to bit-by-bit recording operations by employing any one of optical paths of information light and optical paths of reference light, which are employed in hologram recording operations, as optical paths of bit-by-bit recording operations.
While the compatibility is tried to be realized, in address/servo control operations when hologram recording operations are carried out, reflection light reflected from optical disks, which is required for the address/servo control operations, is derived from the same light source as the light source for the hologram recording operations via either the optical paths of the information light or the optical paths of the reference light when the hologram recording operation is carried out.
Among hologram recording apparatuses having the compatibility with respect to the bit-by-bit recording operations, for instance, there are two different types of hologram recording apparatuses: That is, one type of hologram recording apparatuses perform both address/servo control operations and bit-by-bit recording operations by employing optical paths of reference light when hologram recording operations are carried out (refer to, for example, patent document 1), whereas the other type of hologram recording apparatuses perform both address/servo control operations and bit-by-bit recording operations by employing optical paths of information light when hologram recording operations are carried out (refer to, for instance, patent document 2).
[Patent document 1] JP-A-2002-123949
[Patent document 2] JP-A-2003-178462
However, in the above-described conventional techniques, there are the below-mentioned problems.
That is, as previously described, the address/servo control operation when the hologram recording operation is carried out has the following problem That is, the light which is employed in the address/servo control operation is derived from the light source for the hologram recording operation and the address/servo control operation is carried out via either the optical path of the information light or the optical path of the reference light when the hologram recording operation is carried out, so that both the hologram recording operation and the address/servo control operation cannot be executed at the same time, and therefore, the hologram recording operation and the servo control operation must be alternately carried out.
Also, in order to alternately perform the hologram recording operation and the address/servo control operation, both a hologram recording area and an address/servo area are provided in a hologram recording medium, so that the entire area of the hologram recording medium cannot be utilized in hologram recording operations, and thus, the entire recording area cannot be effectively utilized.